Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to the tracking of assets using a dynamic, ah-hoc mesh network.
Description of the Related Art
Assets take many forms. In a typical asset tracking system, identifiers carried by each asset to be tracked are periodically or continuously read using a fixed infrastructure, for example using terrestrial based communication networks (e.g., cellular communication networks) or non-terrestrial based communication networks (e.g., satellites). Terrestrial networks are often limited in geographic extent and are sometimes unable to track assets that may be disposed in remote locations or other areas where the terrestrial network has inadequate or incomplete coverage. Expanding terrestrial networks is often time consuming and expensive due to the myriad of federal, state, and local regulations covering the installation of network components such as cellular towers. Non-terrestrial networks offer broader coverage, but require significantly greater coverage is possible, however costs for both infrastructure and bandwidth are significantly greater than for terrestrial networks.